Gifted Education Coordinators’ Perceptions and Experiences With Equity Focused Practices

Abstract

The field of gifted education in the United States faces an existential crisis due to well-founded charges that many school programs fail to identify students who reflect the diversity of the overall student population. In this study, we used a mixed methods light approach to explore gifted education coordinators’ perceptions of equity and underrepresentation in their school districts as well as their experiences with practices used for gifted identification and programming. Overall, findings aligned with prior research: Gifted education coordinators reported Black and Latinx students as the most underrepresented groups in their school districts. Universal screening, referrals, and teacher rating scales were the most commonly used practices reported. However, gifted education coordinators also perceived referrals and teacher rating scales as contributors to underrepresentation. Qualitative data provided insight into participants’ closed-ended responses and revealed salient themes. Important implications for research and practice are also discussed.